Sports

Sandy Creek senior Josh Shaw and Sutton junior Alivia Huxoll capped off the 2021-22 basketball season as members of the Southern Nebraska Conference all-conference first-team to lead a group of 10 Clay County players that were honored by the SNC girls and boys post-season honors list.

Joining Shaw on the boys team included Cougar senior Micah Biltoft on the second team, Sutton senior Colton Haight on the third team, while Hayden Shuck, a Sandy Creek senior, and Jesse Herndon, a Sutton senior, were both selected as honorable mention selections for the boys this year.

Three Sutton seniors joined Huxoll on the post-season selection list, as Kate Griess earned second-team honors, Xytlaly Bautista earned third-team honors, while Julia George gained honorable mention honors.

Sandy Creek sophomore Lexi Shuck gained honorable mention honors for the Cougars.

SNC GIRLS ALL-CONFERENCE

Eight events for the Sutton shooting sports team opened the 2022 trap season earning hardware for their work Saturday, March 19, as conference action began at the Crooked Creek Gun Club near Stockham.

Cody Barritt proved to be the male handicap champion hitting on 47 of 50 shots, while Leif Andersen and Ryan Teimeyer tied for top honors in handicap shooting to win the 22-23 yard mark as both hit on 46 of 50 shots.

The Sutton team of Barritt, Andersen, Teimeyer, Kaliegh Nuss, and Vance Smith also claimed highteam honors with an overall 223 final score.

Smith and Teimeyer finished in a three-way tie for the overall high score as the Sutton duo and Kellen Petersen of the Crooked Creek Club all hit on 92 of 100 total shots. Overall winner Cade Kresak of the EMF Club was 93-100 for the individual title.

Five gold medal performances for the Sandy Creek girls track team gained the Cougars an overall second-place team finish in action at the Bulldog Challenge indoor track and field meet at Concordia University Friday, March 19.

Senior Leah Hatch tallied 30 individual points during the meet, scoring wins in the 60-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and claiming gold in the long jump.

Hatch’s individual track wins would see the senior speedster edge out Jacie Rexilius of Lincoln Christian, as Hatch finished the event in 8.17 seconds, while Rexilius finished in 8.23 seconds.

In the 200-meter event, Hatch outlasted Logan View’s Kylie Kloster with a winning time of 27.56 seconds. Kloster finished the event with a time of 27.91 seconds.

In the field, Hatch claimed a big win in the long jump over a pair of Platteview jumpers with a 16’ 6.25” leap.

Kaitlyn Jeffrey hit the 15’ 11” mark, while Platteview teammate Hannah Tagel soared 15’ 6’ to place third.

Under the direction of a new coaching staff, led by head coach Jared Blackwell, the Sandy Creek girls basketball season charted four wins as the rebuilding process got underway with a 4-19 record over the course of the 2021-22 season.

Sandy Creek’s four victories came over Shelby-Rising City (42-30), Wilber-Clatonia (41-21), Harvard (58-31), and Blue Hill (36-32).

Sandy Creek averaged just under 28 points per game, scoring 637 points in the 20 recorded games for the season. The Cougars pulled down just over 24 rebounds per game, while averaging 5.6 assists per game and gaining 8.7 steals per game.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Senior Leah Hatch guided Sandy Creek in four statistical categories, scoring 157 points (7.9 ppg), 111 rebounds, 41 assists and 56 steals.

Coming off of a Class C-2 state volleyball runner-up finish, the Sutton Fillies basketball team got off to a late start to the 2021-22 basketball season, but ended the first month of the season with a 6-3 record, setting up eight weeks of the season with a full steam ahead.

After winning one of two games in the Grand Island Central Catholic holiday tournament, Sutton reeled off nine straight wins in the month of January before gaining a third-place finish in the Southern Nebraska Conference tournament, beating Centennial in the opening round 51-24, before Milford sent the Fillies to the consolation game with a 56-51 win over the Fillies.

In the battle for third place, Sutton gained a 12-point, 39-27 win to send the Fillies into their final two regular-season games with Wilber-Clatonia and Fillmore Central.

The Sandy Creek Cougars, led by a strong group of seniors, battled to a 15-10 final record during the 2021-22 basketball season.

Seniors Josh Shaw, Hayden Shuck, and Micah Biltoft accounted for nearly 39 points per game in a season that would see the Cougars average just over 46 points per game.

Shaw hit for an average of 13.3 points per game, Shuck for 11.1, and Biltoft for 9.9.

Shaw, who hit for 319 points, also led the team in rebounds with 197 total. Shaw also dished out 37 assists and gained 26 steals on the year.

Shuck added 256 points in 23 games and gained 72 rebounds, dished out 66 assists and gained a team-high 33 steals.

Biltoft finished his career with 238 points this season while gaining 135 rebounds and leading the Cougars in assists with 67, while gaining 26 steals.

Freshman Ethan Shaw scored 5.8 points per game by hitting for 138 total points. He also gained 44 rebounds 27 assists and 20 steals.

There’s no doubt that the Sutton Fillies’ vision for the opening round of the Class C-2 state tournament had different sights than what the final outcome against the Bridgeport Bulldogs turned out to be.

Playing the nightcap of the Class C-2 field, the Bulldogs, behind the strength of the Loomis-Goltl sisters, paced the Bulldogs to a commanding 55-35 win over the Fillies to advance to the semifinal round of the tournament with a 25-1 record, while Sutton closed out the year with a 22-5 record.

Junior Ruthie Loomis-Goltl, who stands at 6’ 3” and her younger sister, Olivia Loomis-Goltl, a 5’ 10” sophomore combined for 43 of the Bulldogs’ 55 points, with the older sibling hitting for 24 and the youngest Loomis-Goltl adding 19.

The Sandy Creek contingent of fans sat on the edge of their seats during much of the C2-9 Sub-District final, as the Cougars and Hastings St. Cecilia Bluehawks duked it out for the opportunity to advance to district final play Thursday, Feb. 24 at St. Cecilia High School.

The opening couple of minutes would see the host Bluehawks jump out to a 4-0 lead before the Cougar offense woke up and scored the game’s next 15 points to give Sandy Creek a 15-4 lead halftway through the second quarter.

That 11-point lead, however, was trimmed to seven at the halftime break by the Bluehawks, as the Cougars held a 20-13 lead at intermission.

A big third quarter for St. Cecilia, outscoring Sandy Creek 10-4, cut the Cougar lead to just one point, 24-23 as the two teams headed into the fourth quarter.

A year ago, during the end of the 2020-21 basketball season, the Sutton Fillies were left with a sour taste in their mouths, coming just one game short of their first trip to the Class C-2 state tournament with a 49-46 overtime loss to the Centennial Broncos.

This season, however, the Fillies weren’t about let another group of Broncos dash their dreams of advancing to the big dance in Lincoln. Sutton fired on all cylinders, shooting just under 60-percent in the first-quarter to use a 19-7 first quarter scoring edge to power past the Amherst Broncos in the end, beating Amherst 57-44 in the C2-6 District Final in the Fillies Dome, Friday, Feb. 25.

Tuesday night’s start to the C2-9 Sub-District tournament showed a contrast in starts, as the Sandy Creek Cougars used a 14-3 first quarter lead, with Sutton’s offense starting as cold as the sub-zero temperatures were outside.

The Cougars, powered by seniors Hayden Shuck and Josh Shaw, gained their second win of the season over the Mustangs, taking down Sutton 59-39 in the end to advance to the C2-9 Sub-District Final against the host

Bluehawks of Hastings St. Cecilia.

The Bluehawks broke open a tight first-half challenge from Superior, with the Wildcats trailing 24-18 at halftime before St. Cecilia went on a 35-8 second-half run to win 59-26, setting up the title bout between the Cougars and Bluehawks.

Shuck paced Sandy Creek with 18 points, while Shaw added 12 in the win over the Mustangs. Junior Kaydyn Clark added nine and senior Micah Biltoft, seven, for the Cougars.